At a home in West Jordan with a sign warning trespassers they would be shot, in the early morning hours Nikolas Hill discovered a home invader hiding in his closet. She held the palms of her hands in the air, toward him. "I'm going to go," she said. She made a break for the front door, but it was locked.
As the intruder, Makayla Yeaman, dropped her hands toward her waist, Hill knew she was a dead person. An interviewing officer would later ask him how it made him feel when her hands reached down to her waistline. He would explain to the officer that this was not the first time that he had killed someone, but it was the first time he had killed someone in his home. He did not feel safe, he said, and his training kicked in. He, alone, stood between the intruder and his family -- and he wasn't going to let the her leave his home.
Not alive, that is.
Hill fired four shots, believing two hit her in front, one in the side and one in the back. A knife would be found near her body, and Hill said it did not belong to him. The interviewing officer would ask Hill if he saw her display anything (meaning a weapon), and Hill would respond that he did not, but that it was dark, and he just reacted.
Weeks later, the district attorney's office would screen the case, and decide not to prosecute.
You judge yourself whether Hill should have shot and killed the apparently homeless intruder. I firmly believe he should not -- definitely should not have killed her. I am not ready to let the district attorney's office off for not prosecuting, wondering if there was some way to make a charge stick. But, truth be told, we have laws in our state enabling murder. We call one the Castle Law, and the other the Stand Your Ground Law. If the person doing the killing can reasonably say he or she was simple defending themselves, then it is as simple as that, they cannot be prosecuted. When there are no other witnesses, and the victim is dead, it is the killer's word alone that stands. If he says he was defending himself, that's it. Case closed.
I wrote a version of this story in 2018. Makayla's killing had made the news. I was outraged. I went to the courthouse and paid for a copy of the police report, providing me with the details. Some of the news stories had gone little beyond saying the homeowner had killed an intruder. Just another example of our Second Amendment rights protecting a homeowner, many readers must have concluded. Good for that homeowner.
The sign outside Hill's home warning that trespassers would be shot didn't leave it at that. It said that if they survived the first shot, they would be shot again. That is malice, or can be. If you aren't satisfied with just stopping the intruder, but insist that they be killed, that is malice.
Yes, I think the DA's office should have considered that as it determined whether to press charges. And, yes, I think the DA's office should have considered that she was fleeing for the door.
And, yes, I think our laws should be changed so they are more just.
The Makaylas of this world will continue to leave this world if no one protects them. The laws are written against them. They are the victims. And we will continue to have victims like Makayla Yeaman if nothing is done to change things.
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